Heel-counter.



N. 643,783. Patented Feb. 20, |900.

J. TRAYLOR. 4 HEEL COUNTER.

(Application med Apr. 2o, i899.)

(No Model.)

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' my invention.

UNITED STATES IMTENTl FFICE.

JOHN TRAYLOR, OF GILBERTS CREEK, KENTUCKY.

lasst-COUNTER.

SPECIFICATION form-ing part 0f LetteIS Patent No. 643,783, dated February 20, 1900.

Application led April 20, 1899. Serial No. '713,738l (No model.)

T0 all wir/0711, t may con/cern:

Be it known that I, JOHN TRAYLOR, a citizen of the United States, residing at Gilberts Creek, in the county of Lincoln and State of Kentucky, have invented a new and useful Heel-Counter, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to a metallic counter to be applied primarily to the heels of boots, shoes, and other articles of footwear; and the object of the invention is to provide an easily-manufactured, durable, and light device of this character which serves to prevent the objectionable squeaking and the running over of the boots and shoes, as in the last case the soles and heels of the latter are caused to wear unevenly, and when used in a boot I provide a series of strips, preferably of yielding material and which are disposed in the leg of the boot and serve to preventl the leather from wrinkling, and these strips are secured to opposite sides of the counter, the whole forming a unitary device.

With these ends in view the invention consists in the lnovel .combination of elements and in the construction and arrangement of parts, which will be hereinafter fully described and claimed.

To enable others to vunderstand the invention, I have illustrated the preferred embodiment thereof in the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, and in which- Figure lis a longitudinal central section of a boot provided with a combined counter and leg-support constructed in accordance with Fig. 2 is atransverse section taken on-the line 2 2, Fig. l. Fig. Sis aperspective View of the combined counter and leg-support detached. Fig. 4 is a detail View showing a modified form of leg-support.

Like characters denote like and corresponding parts in each of the several figures of the drawings.

It will be apparent that my device can be applied to any article of footwear; but I have represented it as secured in a boot B of familiar construction, and the insole of the boot is denoted by 2 and the leg by 3.

The counter of the boot is made of some light sheet metal, such as steel or copper, and it can be stamped and properly shaped in one piece at a single operation from the stock, and it has a base portion 4, which is made flat to fit against the upper surface of the insole 2 at the heel thereof, and this base portion has a series of holes or openings 5, adapted to receive suitable fastening devices, as tacks, which are seated in the insole and serve to hold the counter to the same, and the base portion 4 may be covered with a lining, which serves to prevent the direct contact of the foot with the metal or With the heads of the tacks which hold the counter to the sole. The upright wall 6 extends along the sides and rear of the counter and is of curved shape in plan and agrees with the shape of the base portion, and the two are rounded at their junction to produce a comfortable socket to receive the heel of the wearer.

To hold the counter more firmly in place, it is secured to the leg 3 of the boot by means of a closely-arranged line of rivets 7, which pass through the correspondingly-disposed openings 8, formed in the upright wall 6 of the counter, near the upper edge thereof. Upon an inspection of Fig. 3 it will be seen that these openings extend all along the npper side of the wall from the front straight edges thereof, and the rivets which pass through said openings also extend through registering perforations formed in the leg of the boot and are headed upon their outer ends.

I find that the counter constructed as aforesaid is especially applicable to boot-s, and when secured therein, as specified, it materially strengthens the same and prevents squeaking and undue wear thereof, and it is comfortable and light.

In connection with the counter C, I provide a pair of leg-supports, which are located inside the boot-leg 3 and are connected with the counter, and these serve to uphold the leg of the boot and to also prevent wrinkling of the leather without inconveniencing the wearer, while at the same time said supports are adapted to give sidewise and forwardly and rearwardly, due to changes in the position of the leg of the wearer. The supports or stifeners are denoted by 9, and they consist of longitudinal metallic strips, pivoted at their lower ends to the forward opposite corners of the counter, as at l0, by reason of which they can move back and forth with the IOO corresponding motion of the leg, and these are disposed at opposite sides of the boot-leg 3 and t against the same and are made of resilient or bendable material, whereby they can give on the side motion of the leg. The supports or stifteners 9 extend upward from the counter through the guide-loops 12 in transverse alinement and are located about the middle of the height of the boot-leg and conveniently formed of leather stitched in place, and the upper ends of said supports eX- tend into the sheaths 13, which may be made of anysuitable material and which by covering the upper ends of the metallic supports pre- Vent the same from coming directly in contact with the wearer or with his clothing. The sheaths 13 are stitched in place inside the boot-leg, near the top of the same.

In Fig. 4 I have illustrated a modified form of leg-support which is formed from a single length of spring-wire twisted into verticallydisposed flat coils which overlap each other and provide a iiat resilient support adapted to give with the movement of the boot-leg, as described for the first-mentioned form.

Changes in the form, proportion, size, and

the minor details of construction within the scope of the appended claim maybe resorted to without departing from the spirit or sacrificing any of the advantages of this invention.

Having thus described the invention, what I claim is The combination with a boot or shoe having a sheet-metal counter fastened therein, and elongated yieldingly-supporting strips pivotally connected at their lower terminals to the upper front corners of the said counter and firmly held in vertical relation to and movable with the portion of the boot or shoe above the counter and having a connection at the upper terminals to resist the breakdown of the part of the boot or shoe supported thereby.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I have hereto axed my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

JOHN TRAYLOR.

Witnesses:

W. P. GRIMES, J. C. BAILEY. 

